Variable letter-spacing device for typewriters



April 1947 M. H. LOUGHRIDGE 2,418,474

VARIABLE LETTER-SPACING DEVICE FOR TYPEWRITERS Original Filed May 15,1949 Patented Apr. 8, 1947 VARIABLE LETTER-SPACING DEVICE FORTYPEWRITERS Matthew H, Loughridge, Bogota, N J William R. Lockridgeadministrator of said Matthew H. Loughridge, deceased Originalapplication May 15, 1940, Serial No.

335,391, now Patent No. 2,283,680, dated May 19,

1942, Serial No. 435,594

13 Claims.

his i n o r lat s o a s epp and J ifying mechanism and is shown inconnection with the carriage feed of a typewriter for letter and wordspacing. An object of the invention is to provide an escapernent fortypewriters in whioh the steps of the stepping mechanism can be variedas desired; another object is to provide an escapeinent for a typewritercarriage in which the steps are adjustable and which may be operted inop it cl e ions a d ano h obj o the invention is to provide a steppingmotion for the carriage of a typewriter operated by a friction wheel,These and other objects of the invention will be more particularlyunderstood from the following specification and the accompanyingdrawings in which Fig. l is a front elevation of the invention appliedas a justifying mechanism to control the linear motion of a typewritercarriage;

F 2 is an nd a ion p y s tio ed; corresponding to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the mechanism applied to an escapement,and

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the adaption of the invention for frontand has}; spacing of the typ r e c r a e.-

This application is a division of application Serial No. 335,391, filedMay 15, 1940, now Patent No 2,283,680, issued May 19, 1942, relating toa justifying mechanism.

In this invention a member of the typewriter carriage is held infrictional engagement with a r le of e s pi g m chan sm h s roller sreleased for a limited movement by each opera.- tion of the typewriterkeys, The extent of the movement is adjustable by a cam and index leverso that this adjustment may be made to justify the typewritten lines sothat they will end evenly one below the other, The adjustment isobtained by an arm which frictionally engages the roller and has anangular movement about the roller that is readily adjusted to limit thesteps pro. duced by this arm as the keys are operated. In theapplication of the invention to a typewriter carriage it is necessary torelease the carriage for one step after the key is operated and forthis. P Y FDOSB the stepping action is produced by a spring which movesthe lever against the action of he keys.

The movement of the typewriter carriage may be obtained by the movementof the lever one gaging the friction roller and the power for obtaininthis operation may be obtained from the operation of the keys, or may beoperated pneu: matically and controlled by the keys as in the abovereferred to application. V 7

Divided and this application May 20,

Well as forwards, a first lever is provided 0 per.-

ated by the ordinary keys for stepping the car.- riage in the normaldirection and a second lever is provided reversed with respect to thefirst lever so that it rotates the friction roller in the oppositedirection. This secondlever is operated by the back spacing key and theoperation of this key holds the normal spacing lever inactive so thatthe back spacing i operated without release ing the forward spacing,

T m h ni m is p d o o at n a sh et feeding mechanism through a roller inwhich one, or preferably a pair, of ma nets may be used in which thecircuit of these magnets is inter, ittentl co lled t pro uce a stepp nmoveen of h rol er to the xtent esired. When uto ati cont ol is re uiredin this form of sheet feeder a system using a photo-electric cellinfluenced by the movement of the sheet, may be used to control thecircuit of the magnets and to stop their action when the desiredposition is reached.

Adjusting an object having linear motion A common form of linear motionto which justifying mechanisms have been adapted is found in the letterspacing of a typewriter. An adaptation of this invention ior thispurpose is shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. The letter spec.- ing of thecarriage of a typewriter is a relatively small movement and when thecarriage is mounted on antifriction bearings this movement may beobtained by relatively little energy, as for in.- stance, by the returnof a spring after it has been expanded. In one application the letterspacing of the carriage is obtained by t e energy applied to the writingkeys; the carriage makes one step upon the return of each key afterwrit.- ing a character or by the operation of the spacer bar. in thisapplication the retracting spring for the carriage is not required. Whenapplied to a carriage with a retracting spring the justis fyins me hanim pe a s l ke an escapement, ea ng he i ge or a l n ar movement cor-. rs ndin t t r spacin r he. op ra o of h ey.

Normally, the letter spacing is uniform, but

when it is desired to increase or decrease spacing the movement of thedrum is adjusted by a cam which is set for the spacing desired. Inapplication, if the normal spacing provides for ten characters to theinch and the end of a line is approached which will be justified ifeight characters are spaced in one inch, the adjusting cam is set foreight spaces and the linear movement of the carriage is controlledaccordingly. As this mechanism does not use a ratchet but instead uses afriction Wheel to control the adjusted object, the variation in thecontrol can be introduced at any point.

In the drawings, 23| is the supporting frame of the justifying mechanismwhich is suitably secured to the body of the typewriter, 232 is afriction wheel mounted on shaft l6, supported by frame 2M andfrictionally engaging the rib 253 which is pivoted at 233 in the frame235 of the carriage. This rib is supported between a soft rubber cushion236 on the top and a corresponding cushion 296a on the bottom whichprovides for its vertical movement on the pivot 234. The rib is held infrictional engagement with wheel 202 by the roller 23?, mounted on arm203, pivoted at 239 and held under tension by spring 2|0. In thisconstruction the carriage is moved by a corresponding movement of thefriction wheel. The'rib 203 is an integral part of the carriage.

The drum I3 is rigidly secured to the friction wheel 232 androtatestherewith. This drumis engaged by the shoe 23, controlled bylever 2|, pivoted to arm 23 and normally held in'enga'gement with thedrum by the spring 2| The universal bar 2 I4 is depressed when each ofthe keys 2|5 is depressed. This applies tension to the connection 2|6,connecting to shoe 2|) to release the shoe from the drum against thetension of spring 2. When the shoe is released spring 21 returns arm 23to the position as determined by the cam 2|8, and when the operated key2|5 releases theuniversal bar 2|4 the spring 2 brings the shoe intoengagement with the drum and rotates the drum to correspond with thefree movement of arm 23. The connection to 2|6 is made through anequalizing spring 2|! so that the movement of bar 2M may not retard thenormal operation of the keys. When it is desired to release theadjusting mechanism and permit the free movement of the carriage the cam2|3 through shaft 2|2, is brought into engagement with the lever 2| torelease the shoe from the drum.

The movement of arm 23 is limited by the stop screw .25 in the lug 25aand by the cam 2|8, mounted on shaft 2|9, which is rotated by arm 220and connected by rod 22| to the adjusting lever 222. This lever isgraduated to indicate in its various positions of adjustment the letterspacing that is provided by the movement of cam 2|8 to restrict themovement of arm 23 and it may be brought into operation at any positionin writing a line so that the line will justify. For instance, if it isknown that eight normal spaces are required to complete a line and onlysix letters are available, the stepping of the carriage is increased byadjusting lever 222 so that the eight spaces will be reduced to six byincreasing the length of each space. eter of the drum 3 is'larger thanthe diameter of the friction Wheel 2232 so that a close adjustment canbe obtained in the operation of the system. The leverage of 222 can beincreased to provide for close adjustment. Friction roller 202 The diam-4 and operating drum or roller l3 are an integral construction.

The application in Fig. 3 performs the function of an escapement inwhich the spring 223 connecting to stud 224 normally retracts the ribThe drum I3 is provided with a lever 2| and a shoe 2B which is operatedby the keys 2-|5, corresponding to the mechanism in Fig. 1. In addition,the drum is provided with the lever 226, secured to a fixed pivot 22'!and having the shoe 228, which engages the drum l3, through connection225 and 229 to the lever 2|, when lever 2| is moved to the releasedposition by the operation of the universal bar 2|4. In operation, when akey is depressed, lever 2| is lowered to release brake shoe 20 and topermit spring 21 to restore arm 23 to the position fixed by stop 26. Atthe same time lever 22B is lowered to bring shoe 228 into engagementwith the drum and to hold the drum against rotation when the writingimpression is made. When the key is released spring 2|| moves lever 2|to bring shoe 23 into engagement with the drum and, at the same time,shoe 228 is released and the drum is free to rotate corresponding to thefree movement of arm 23, which released space is taken up by spring 223.When this position is reached, shoe 20 holds the drum until the nextoperation of bar 2|4. The friction wheel 202 connects with the drum i3by the ball ratchet 23| to permit the carriage to be moved against theaction of spring 223. When it is desired to release the carriage fromthe justifying mechanism, the wedges 230 are forced under rib 203 torelease it from engagement by the friction wheel 202.

The mechanism shown in Fig. 4 corresponds with the mechanism in Fig. 1with the addition of a back spacer. This comprises the arm 23a, normallyheld in the starting position by spring 27a and pivotally supporting theend of lever 232 which applies shoe 233 to the drum I3 against theaction of spring 234, to rotate the drum in the opposite direction tothat produced by lever 2|. The back spacing is produced by back spacingkey 2|5b, connecting by 24| and 243 to the arm 236, pivoted at 23'! andconnecting by 235 with lever 232. Arm 236 is provided with a hook 233which engages a complementary hook 239 on lever 2| when this lever is inposition to engage the drum.

As shown in the drawing, key 2| 5a is depressed and the lever 2| isreleased from the drum and arm 23 is restored to the position at stop26, and during the operation of the universal bar 2M the lever 232remains inactive. When the back spacing key 2|5b is operated arm 238engages lever 2| and releases shoe 2!] but does not permit the arm 23 tobe moved to the position against stop 26 because of the engagement ofhooks 23B, 233. At the same time lever 232 is depressed to apply shoe233 to rotate drum |3 in the reverse direction. Back spacing is thusprovided for while the forward spacing is suspended.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A justifying mechanism comprising a carriage to be adjusted in alinear direction, a driving connection to move said carriage step bystep comprising a drum engaging said driving connection, a friction shoefor said drum, a lever movable with said drum and for applying said shoeto the drum, means for adjusting the rotational movement of said lever,to alter the distance of said steps to justify a line, and means foroperating said lever to rotate the drum.

'2. A justifying mechanism comprising a carriage to be adjusted in alinear direction, a rotatable drum operatively connected with thecarriage, an arm pivoted to rotate about the axis of said drum, meansfor adjusting the rotational movement of said arm, a lever pivoted atone end to said arm and carrying a friction shoe engaging said drum,means for disengaging said lever from said drum, and a spring engagingsaid lever for rotating said drum and for restoring said arm to thestarting position.

3. A justifying mechanism for a typewriter carriage comprising a rolleroperatively connected with said carriage, a lever having a limitedmovement about the axis of said roller and frictionally engaging saidroller, a cam for adjusting the movement of said lever, means forreleasing and moving said lever to the extent of said movement, andmeans for engaging said lever with said roller and restoring said leverto the starting position.

4. A ratchet-like mechanism for a typewriter carriage comprising aroller operatively engaged with said carriage, a lever having a limitedmovement about the axis of said roller and engaging said roller, meansoperated by each key of the typewriter for releasing said lever from theroller, a spring for moving said lever and roller to the extent of saidmovement and a spring for engaging the lever with the roller andrestoring said lever to the starting position upon release of the key.

5. A ratchet-like mechanism for a typewriter as in claim 4 with springmeans for providing frictional engagement between said roller and themember moving with the carriage.

6. An escapement mechanism for a typewriter carriage having a biascomprising a roller opera tively connected with said carriage, a firstlever having a limited movement about the axis of said roller,frictionally engaging said roller to rotate it in one direction, asecond lever on a fixed pivot frictionally engaging said roller toprevent its movement by said bias and means operated by each key of thetypewriter for bringing the second lever into engagement with the rollerand restoring the first lever to the starting position on the initialmovement of the type key, and means moving the first lever to rotate theroller and release the second lever from the roller on the return on thekey.

'7. A back spacing mechanism for a typewriter carriage, comprising afriction roller operatively connected with the carriage, a first leverengaging said roller and having a limited movement about the axis ofsaid roller for moving said roller in the normal direction, a secondlever engaging said roller reversed with respect to the first roller andhaving a limited movement about the axis of said roller and meansoperated by a back spacing key of the typewriter for engaging the secondlever and releasing the first lever from the roller, to back space thecarriage.

8. A back spacing mechanism for a typewriter carriage, comprising afriction roller operatively connected with the carriage, a first leverengaging said roller and having a limited movement about the axis ofsaid roller for moving said roller in the normal direction, a secondlever engaging said roller reversed with respect to the first roller andhaving a limited movement about the axis of 9. An escapement mechanismfor a typewriter carriage having a bias, an operating roller operativelyconnected with said carriage through a ratchet mechanism, means foroperating said operating roller in steps by the keys of the typewriter,means controlled by said keys for holding said operating roller againstrotation by said bias, and said ratchet mechanism permitting the freereturn of said carriage against said bias.

10. An escapement for typewriters comprising a carriage, a frictionroller means operatively connected with said carriage to determine itsmovement, a lever frictionally engaging said roller means and having amovement about the axis of the roller, an adjustable cam for limitingthe movement of said lever, and means controlled by each key of thetypewriter for operating said lever to the extent of the movement asdetermined by said cam and to effect a corresponding movement of saidcarriage.

11. An escapement for typewriters comprising a carriage, a frictionroller operativel connected with said carriage to restrict its movement,means operated by the keys of the typewriter for efiectin limitedvariable length movements of said roller by each key in a normaldirection, and means operated by a back spacing key of the typewriterfor effecting a limited reverse movement of said roller.

12. A justifying mechanism comprising a carriage to be adjusted in alinear direction, a rotatable drum operatively connected with saidcarriage, a first arm pivoted to rotate about the axis of said drum, asecond arm pivoted to rotate about the axis of said drum, means foradjusting the rotational movement of said arms, a lever for each armpivoted at one end to the arm and means on said levers for engaging thedrum to rotate it in opposite directions, and means for operating saidlevers. V

13. An escapement for typewriters comprising a carriage, roller meansoperatively connected to said carriage, a lever frictionally engagingsaid operating roller and having a movement about the axis of saidroller, a cam for restricting the free movement of said lever uponrelease thereof, means for adjusting said cam, means connected with thetype bar for releasing said lever from operative engagement with saidroller, means for actuating said type bar, and a spring for moving saidlever to rotate said roller in the normal direction.

MATTHEW H. LOUGI-IRIDGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Numb r Name Date 2,202.565 Reid May 28, 19402,237.7'70 Smith Apr. 8, 1941 966,035 Mercer Aug, 2, 1910 1,264.589Anderson Apr. 30, 1918 2,199,556 Carroll May '7, 1940 2.246 968 AntrimJune 24, 1941 2,111,410 Stickney Mar. 15, 1938 2,225,356 Sibley Dec. 17,1940 2,047,733 Harrison July 14, 1936 2,198,005 Evans Apr. 23, 1940FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 307,867 British 1929

